“The adjustments were made in April and May, when it was possible to complete the IT developments and tests associated with this correction without compromising the processing of the remaining social benefits”, explained the president of the Social Security Institute in Parliament.
The president of the Social Security Institute stated this Thursday that the IRS adjustment of pensions took place in April and May after the computer developments and tests associated with this correction were completed without jeopardizing the remaining benefits.
The president of the ISS, Ana Margarida Vasques, who was heard at the Budget, Finance and Public Administration Committee at the request of the PSD and CDS-PP regarding the arrangements for IRS withholding on pensions paid in April and May, stated that it was a “technical” issue preventing political readings from being made.
“The adjustments were made in April and May, when it was possible to complete the IT developments and tests associated with this correction without compromising the processing of the remaining social benefits”, stated the president of the ISS.
Ana Margarida Vasques stated that it was “a question of a technical nature”, that it has “precedents” and that it cannot “have any other interpretation, particularly of a political nature”.
On April 29, the ISS clarified that adjustments were made to the IRS withholding of April and May pensions to correct the withholding made in January based on a “provisional” table for 328 thousand pensioners.
Included in that group of 328,000 Social Security pensioners is the return of excess IRS withheld from 184,000 pensioners (which was done with the April pension) and the adjustment of the under-withheld amount to 143,800 pensioners – carried out with the April pensions. May.
The statement came after Jornal de Negócios reported that there are pensioners who were faced with a reduction in the net value of the pension paid in May, without the receipt providing an explanation for this fact – as the gross value of the pension remained , as well as the tax withholding rate, but not the discount amount.
This issue of the provisional retention table and subsequent adjustments took the new Government by surprise, with the office of the current Minister of Labor, Maria do Rosário Ramalho, revealing “astonishment” and highlighting that the matter was not transmitted by the previous executive, who accused of wanting to give an “artificial idea” of increasing pensions before the legislative elections.
At the hearing, the ISS president highlighted that pension processing begins on the 20th of the previous month and that the month of January, by combining several changes (such as the annual update of pensions and the application of new retention tables, IRS) is a particularly demanding month.
Ana Margarida Vasques also noted that “not infrequently” the definitive retention table is preceded by a provisional one, remembering that the one being applied this year was published on December 29th – after the processing of pensions – and in this arrangement Priority was given to people who had withheld excess tax and information about the situation followed with the pension receipt.
Regarding the group whose agreement was made in May (which withheld personal income tax in January) an explanatory email was sent.
